As one goes deeper in research one finds the fact that - Celibacy and living in a monastery was always strange to Vedic religion. In fact almost all the great sages of Puranas and Vedas were householders. Observing celibacy and the monastery system in Vedic religion is influence of Buddhism and Jainism. The Hinduism is mixture of Vedic, Jain and Buddhist and many other ideologies. The pure essence of Santana Dharma is lost by adopting ideology of many other ideologies.
Sage Sri, Sankara who wanted to drive away these religions was the first great sage who recommended celibacy to sanyasis and also established monasteries. Later saints followed this trend. People think that to be a Hindu sage has to observe celibacy but this concept was not there in Vedic religion. Thus the Hindu religion has become hotchpotch of many ideologies.
People believes that if a Swamiji, indulges in sex activity he is doing a sin. And they also believe that a Swamiji and gurus should never marry and observe celibacy. If they fail to do so they are not fit to continue as Sanyasis.
Sex is human instinct like hunger. The Swamiji’s are forced to observe celibacy, which is against human nature. Only few will succeed in this venture and others carry on secretly indulge in their sexual venture until it comes to limelight.
Many Swamijis in the past got married after resigning from swamis’ order. Many times this became public debate but these people were soon forgotten. There are many self declared Swamijis with religious robes and indulge in accumulation of wealth and indulging in sex and all sorts of immoral and criminal activities happenings in their Ashrams and retreats. Many Swamijis indulge in sex with their disciples. Once this is brought to the knowledge of people, people start reacting negatively. Public memory is very short. People talk about all scandals for some time and later they forget about it.
There is a need to do deeper research on Vedic religion and bifurcate the present Hindu religion, which is mixed-up with Buddhism, Jainism and also idea adopted from other ideologies to know the pure essence of Vedas. It is also necessary to verify validity of dual and non-dual ideologies, which are based on Vedas to know they are mere add-ons. The original Sanatan Dharma was without all these ideologies.
Swamis or gurus who claim themselves to be God and people worship and glorify them as God in human form. They are trying to establish a regular religious sect of their own by taking advantage of the mass mind set, which accept to believe any one who are propagating about their religion and god as avatars. This is an unhappy development of the Hindu religious movement. Even Gandhiji resisted such deification of himself.
There can be no correct exposition in the Upanishads unless the guru has had experience of the truth. Otherwise it is merely adding words to words. The sage will not do immoral things that are impossible.
It is difficult for people to understand such texts as, “God, Guru and the Self are one." No on rises voice against the practice of deifying the Guru they think it is against their religion and tradition.
If god, guru and self are one -- it means the self is Atman and Atman is god and guru, not the body. Thus, one who thinks himself as guru is considers the self as body and allows people to worship his body as god , thus he is not God because he is not aware of the fact that, the self is the formless Atman or consciousness or spirit.
There are few people who are able to think beyond physicality voice against the practice of deifying the Guru.
The traditional Hindu attitude towards the Guru is glorifying him as god. It is necessary to verify the facts on this subject at some length. This not referred to anyone in particular. The present verification of facts is general and irrespective of any particular person and their beliefs.
Hindu religious literature is full of such aphorisms as :-
There is no higher deity than the Guru'
The Guru is the ultimate Truth and Deity
God and Avatars (incarnations) are secondary to the Guru in importance
There is no higher refuge, no higher target, no higher destination than the Guru
The Guru is God Himself
God and the Guru are one
He who makes a distinction between the Guru and God is ignorant and stupid and scores of similar others. Some celebrated philosopher-saints like Jnandev, Eknath and so many others all over India have offered their first salutations to the Guru in their various books.
A good deal of chaos prevails in Hinduism. It has an ever increasing number of Avatar as and Gurus installed as God Himself, with the support and sanction of scriptures and teachings of saints and sages in the past. The crooks take advantage of the innocence of the masses and pretend to be god or god men.
Denunciation of practice of glorifying the guru as god is impossibility because people are sentimentally and emotionally involved with their inherited religious belief.
Brahmacarya, monastic celibacy, is the complete abstinence from sex, which is only incumbent upon monastics. Householders practice monogamy as a way to uphold Brahmacarya in spirit.
"Non-possession", is the renunciation of property and wealth, before initiation into sanyasa, without entertaining thoughts of the things renounced. This is done so one understands how to detach oneself from things and possessions, including home and family, so one may reach moksa.
For householders, non-possession is owning without attachment, because the notion of possession is illusory. The reality of life is that change is constant; thus, objects owned by someone today will be property of someone else in future days. The householder is encouraged to discharge his or her duties to related people and objects as a trustee, without excessive attachment.
Since, the guru is bound to follow by some ethics and code of conducts prescribed in scriptures; the immoral acts of gurus are harmful, as it might cause doubt and confusion in the minds of many people, who strive with simple faith and earnestness to practice the discipline for enlightenment and self- development. Thus, gurus have to be accountable to all his acts and actions because they are bound by religion and their religious code of conducts.
